Wildomar, CA (June 18, 2012) With Monster Energy-Specialized racing’s Troy Brosnan at home recovering from a training injury sustained in Austria, Mitch Ropelato is ready to step up to the opportunity to fill-in for Brosnan. Ropelato has been racing in the U.S. for Specialized Racing-USA gravity onboard his Demo and will now debut for the Monster Energy-Specialized Team at both the Mont Saint Anne, Canada and Windham, New York World Cup rounds.

“Mitch was our first choice when we thought about a possible fill-in rider and we look forward to having him onboard. He’s a talented rider and I think he’ll have a good time on the program.” Said Team Manager Sean Heimdal. “It’s a shame to have Troy sidelined and we hope his recovery goes as planned!”

”Im happy to see Mitch filling in for myself and glad that he will be getting a factory ride at the next world cup rounds to show what talent on a bike he really has!” says Troy Brosnan.

Mitch Ropelato says: “I’m super excited that I get the opportunity to ride with Sam Hill, work with Jacy and Sean under the Monster/Specialized tent. It’s really just a dream to be able to work with one of the top MTB teams in the world and really thankful that Specialized has lent me this opportunity to work with Monster Team. So, these next two weeks I’m just sitting on Cloud 9 without a worry in the world and just go out and have some fun riding my bike.”

Specialized Bicycles says: “This is a wonderful opportunity for Mitch while Troy recovers. He is a very talented rider and we couldn’t be more excited about the move. At Specialized we strive to develop riders and help them achieve their goals. To have Mitch come from one of our domestic teams and go to our global team is great for the program! We hope this move will be inspirational to other riders out there who have dreams of making it to a professional world cup team.”

Special thanks to all our sponsors for supporting this idea and facilitating everything in a short amount of time!